A.Ham Book Club discussion

I'm the worst. I'll post questions as soon as I read it...


I know, you don't have to tell me. I feel bad enough as is!

You are forgiven. I haven't read it either, but I will today.

No, I'm the worst. I need to do some discussion catch-up.

Lets be honest here - none of you are the "worst". That honor is reserved for the person sitting in the WH

Interesting to read alongside this chapter:

Unsubmitted Resolution Calling for a Convention to Amend the Articles of Confederation
http://founders.archives.gov/document...

Thanks Jane. This is a good read for this chapter. I really enjoy Founders Online, great compilation of historical documents.

Thanks for posting that, Jane! I finished the chapter, but I was wracking my brain for questions and couldn't think of any.

I suppose one would be, do you think it would have been possible to modify the existing Articles of Confederation? Or was a new constitution required? Why do you think people were so resistant to the idea of even trying to fix the Articles?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Except it was broke, and "the people" were so insulated in their own locality, indifferent to matters they did not believe concerned them, and resistant to federal challenges to their "sovereignty", that the idea must have seemed quite sinister to those who didn't grasp its necessity.

I found it interesting that there seemed to be this accepted inevitability among some that the US would break up into smaller, Europe-like nations, because regional differences made political consensus impossible. I mean, isn't that still true? Are the reasons for union chiefly economic and tied to national security? They don't seem particularly cultural. Had the country fractured into pieces, would it have then been more vulnerable to conquest by Spain, France, etc?

I like the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" analogy Jane. I would add that having just finished a war to move away from being colonized by the British crown, There was a real fear of repeating the pattern with a federal government that could tax them, create a military, and regulate their businesses. And so, as Jane said, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" was "good enough." Of course, loosely bound states can only function until some national emergency occurred. I believe they needed to move away from the Articles to the Constitution of we would not have survived as a nation. Washington understood this, and if they wanted Washington to lead, they were going to have to start over.